Francisco Llinares, Spanish financial analyst and educator, dies at 77

Francisco Llinares, Spanish financial analyst and educator, dies at 77

Francisco Llinares Coloma, a technical analyst and financial educator from Spain, has died at the age of 77. The news, confirmed on professional finance channels and on his own Telegram, has shaken a community that trinc him for his sharpness in dismantling the official economic narrative and for his eccentric health methods. The man who claimed to bathe in ice water and boiling water to survive the apocalypse, who boasted of betting 100,000 euros that he would live to 120, has gone too soon. The irony is macabre: the man who preached fasting, distilled water and strict vegetarianism has died in the prime of life, leaving a trail of questions about the genetic lottery and the limits of extreme self-care.

A legacy of technical analysis and scepticism

Llinares leaves behind a body of work that transcends the noise. His book on professional technical analysis remains a reference for traders who learned to read the markets and their traps. He was an outspoken detractor of bitcoin — a stubbornness that, according to his critics, cost him missing out on the asset of the century — and a fervent defender of silver, whose heirs will enjoy it free of capital gains tax. His calm, ego-free style was captivating: "He knew he was just passing through," sums up one of his listeners. That awareness of mortality, paradoxically, did not stop him from making reckless lifetime forecasts.

The price of eccentricity: health and longevity

Controversy surrounds his health advice. In his book Manual del cuerpo humano (Manual of the Human Body), he recommended brushing one's teeth with urine and prolonged fasting. "I am increasingly convinced that health is largely a lottery," admits one trinc. Others point out that he rejected sport, which clashes with his obsession with bodily purity. The community is divided between those who see his death as a warning about health gurus and those who defend his freedom to experiment. What nobody disputes is his ability to question dogmas, even if some of his postulates bordered on paranoia.

His final video and the degrowth theory

Among his most valued contributions is his video on degrowth, in which he explained how we got here and where we are heading as a society. His refusal to show his face on social media — "very intelligent and understandable, very dignified" — made him an almost mythical figure. "When I listened to him, I wasn't trying to extract bits of information per second; rather, I wanted his way of seeing things calmly, without shouting, despite recounting pavor, to rub off on me," confesses an admirer. That elegance in conveying pessimism without stridency is perhaps his best legacy.

The announced death that wasn't

A month ago, a troll announced his death on several forums and Llinares had to come out and deny it. Now the news is real. Some speculate that he was "taken out of the way", although there is no evidence whatsoever. The coincidence with bitcoin's volatility — "it would be epic if BTC went to hell again on the very day of his death" — adds a morbid twist he himself would have enjoyed. He had a vvife but no children. His Telegram channel was the last place he published.

The farewell of an orphaned community

"A great man, free and honest", "a sage for the way he shunned human flaws", "irreplaceable". Messages of condolence keep multiplying. There is criticism too: "What a snake-oil salesman, a peddler of hot air and dead water." The division reflects the complexity of the man. For his trinc, he was a titan of finance who taught them to see the system's traps. For his detractors, an eccentric who mistook freedom for recklessness. In any case, his death leaves a void in heterodox economic analysis.

With all this, it is hard to predict who will fill his shoes. The community of finance professionals loses an uncomfortable voice, and the markets lose an observer who knew he was just passing through.